These valuable but often overlooked tips can streamline your workflow. Delve into Windows’ hidden abilities Windows is so deep and flexible that many of us don’t utilize its more powerful tools, whether from unawareness or forgetfulness. But a universe of tools and tricks lies within Internet Explorer, the Start button, and elsewhere. We’ll refresh your … Read more
THE CREATOR OF Cryptocat, Nadim Kobeissi, is back with another easy-to-use encryption tool. This time it’s a free Chrome app called miniLock fao.pcworld.com/minilockl that aims to make it easy to create and share single encrypted files with others. Similar to other encryption tools, miniLock relies on public-key cryptography. Under this scheme you have to share … Read more
Use Droplt to take the tedium out of file management. PROJECT GOALFile managementUse Droplt to easily carry out file and folder operations.REQUIRESDropltThe software is open source.Droplt is a tiny free tool that’s designed to speed up common file and folder operations such as copying, moving, renaming and encrypting. You can set it up to monitor selected … Read more
iOS 8 under the microscope. A HOST OF FEATURES TO GET EXCITED ABOUT. If you remember anything much about last year’s launch of iOS 7, it will surely be the fact that it consigned Apple’s previous love affair with skeuomorphism – the practice of making certain software functions physically resemble their real life equivalents – … Read more
From file wrangling to housecleaning, these tips will help you get the most out of your supercharged storage. IF YOU’RE STILL using a mechanical hard drive, you might consider upgrading to a solid-state drive—it will give your PC a speed boost on everything from boot times to game loading screens. SSDs aren’t the perfect replacement … Read more
Tech and trends that will affect you today and beyond. Microsoft rocked Build 2014 with an abundance of announcements. Best Build ever? » The keynote address that kicked off Microsoft’s Build 2014 developers conference may have lasted a punishing three hours, but the event was packed with product reveals aimed at consumers. The latest Windows … Read more
YOU’LL NEED THIS SOFTPERFECT RAM DISK. Get the free download from http://bit.ly/MPC_RamDisk. The concept of taking unused memory and turning it into a lightning-fast virtual drive that also reduces the wear and tear on your hard disk is nothing new, but using RAM has traditionally had one major drawback: its volatile nature means all data … Read more
nVidia’s 860M, 870M and 880M bring 4k video and double a laptop’s runtime, writes Agam Shah Laptops will get console-like gaming framerates and run for up to twice as long with nVidia’s GeForce GTX 800M mobile graphics processors. The GeForce GTX 860M, 850M, 840M and 830M GPUs are up to 60 percent faster than their … Read more
Q: WAYNE KLAWUHN USED the Darik’s Boot and Nuke utility (www.dban.org) to securely wipe his hard drive. Unfortunately, the erasing procedure also wiped the tools necessary for reinstalling Windows. A: EVERY COMPUTER THAT’S sold with Windows preinstalled must come with a tool for reinstalling the operating system. The most common approach puts the restoration tool … Read more
THE WINDOWS XPOCALYPSE is upon us: Microsoft is no longer providing security patches for Windows XP as of April 8, 2014. Nearly 30 percent of Internet-connected PCs still run XP. They’ll continue operating normally, but they’ll be rotting inside, suffering from increasingly numerous security holes. If you’re using Windows XP, and you can’t upgrade your … Read more
W e’ve been following Valve’s first foray into the operating system business via its Steam Machine initiative with interest. Chances are good that you have been, too, whether you’re a staunch card-carrying member of the PC Master Race or just a fan of games regardless of the platform on which they’re played. We first covered … Read more
DESKTOP WHO? WINDOWS what? The classic Windows-based PC remains Intel’s bread and butter, but it has needed to diversify its diet for a long time. At an event at the Mobile World Congress in February, the company announced two new Atom chips, code-named Merrifield and Moorefield, that could be its first truly competitive mobile solutions—and … Read more